Shared Word Translation
Exodus 7
The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.
You are to speak all that I command you, and Aaron your brother is to speak to Pharaoh, so that he will send the Israelites out of his land.
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring out my companies, my people, the Israelites, from the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.
The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them; so they did.
Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
“When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Perform a wonder for yourselves,’ then you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh. Let it become a great serpent.’”
Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a great serpent.
Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers, and they too—the magicians of Egypt—did the same by their secret arts.
Each threw down his staff, and they became great serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.
Yet Pharaoh’s heart became firm, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is heavy; he refuses to send the people away.
Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Look, he is going out to the water. Stand to meet him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
Say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Send my people away, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But look, until now you have not listened.
Thus says the LORD: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Look, with the staff that is in my hand I am striking the water in the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.
The fish in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from the Nile.’”
The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers, their canals, their pools, and every collection of their waters—and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in the wood and in the stone.’”
Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water in the Nile was changed into blood.
The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank. The Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
But the magicians of Egypt did the same by their secret arts. Pharaoh’s heart became firm, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had spoken.
Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and he did not set his heart even on this.
All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink from the water of the Nile.
Seven days were completed after the LORD struck the Nile.